Variable-speed gearing.



G.H.BOUGHER. VARIABLE SPEED GEARING.

LPPLIOATION FILED NOV. 10, 1911. J

- Patented Dec. 17,1912.

2 SHBETSTSHEET 1*.

G. H. BOUOHER. VARIABLE SPEED GEARING. APPLICATION FILED NOV.10, 1911.

1,047,735. Patented Dec. 17, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

01mm) n so cHER, or THE UNITET) STATES NAVY.

VARIABLE-SPEED GEABING.

Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed November 10, 1911.

Patented Dec. 17, 1912. Serial no. 59, 04. i

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that LCREED H. BoUoHER, ensign United States N avy,'acitizen of the United States, at present attached to the U. S. S. DesMoz'nes, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in VariableSpeed Gearing; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of theinvention, such as will enable othersskilled in, the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates. to change speed transmission gearing adapted forgeneral use, but especially applicable to automobiles and mechanicallypropelled vehicles in gen eral, and has for its object to provide amechanism of a sliding selective type which will be simple inconstruction comparatively inexpensive to manufacture, certain inaction, not liable to get out of order through excessive wear, and onewhich insures only a single set of gears being thrown into op: erationat a time, while venabling the machine to be readily reversed at will,and all the operations controlled by. means 1 of a single lever movingover a simple are. I

WVith these and other objects in ,view, the invention consists in thenovel details of construction and combinations of parts more fullyhereinafter disclosed and particularly pointed out in the claims. 1

Referring to the accompanying drawings forming a part of thisspecification, in which like numerals designate like parts in all the 7NEWS -F1gure-1 is an enlarged sectional vlew of a change speed gearingmade in accordance wlth my invention, andshowing the parts ta ry detailview illustrating a preferred in their neutral position; F ig. 2 is aview similarto Fig. 1, but illustrating a modified form of my invention;Fig. 3 is a fragmenformof controlling lever; Fig. 4; is asectionaldetail view of certain of the parts I shown in Fig. 8; Fig. 5 is amodified form of controlling ployedin conneotion-withmy change speedhaving gearing; and, Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic plan view illustrating theH form. of slot now frequently used in connection with change.

speed gearing on mechanically propelled vehicle's. p I

1 indicates a rear axle, or driven shaft,

I ing said axle; said wheel 3 being provided lever which might be em-;

a multiple bevel gear .3 secured, thereto,or to the usualdifi'erentialfor drivwith oo-axial annular series ofbevel faces 4,

5 and 6.

7 represents the driving shaft to which is splined the sleeve 8 carryingthe collar '9 to which may be fitted any suitable operatinglever 10 asillustrated, for example, in Fig. 5.v The said sleeve Sis rotatable withthe'shaft 7 as well as slidable thereon, and I has rigidly securedthereto sets of vprojections 11, 12 and 13, onefor each change of speed.I, ,7

14 represents the frame through which the axle l passes, and the saidframe receives the said driving shaft 7 and sleeve 8 as shown, as wellas a plurality of bevel gears 15, 16 and 17 adapted to respectivelyinter- 1 mesh with the bevel gears 4, 5 and 6 as shown. Each of thegears 15, 16 and 17 is movable independently of theother, and is hollowin order o receive the said sleeve 8 as shown. Said gears 15, '16 and 17also carry sets ofinternal projections 18, 19 and 20 respectively, withwhich the projections 11, 12 and 13 are adapted respectively to en'-gage at different-times. That is to say, as

will more clearly appear below, the projece tions 11, 12 andl3 are sospaced with respect to the spacing of the internal projections 18, 19and 20, that as the sleeve '8 slides along the shaft 7, only one set ofprojections,

such as .11, can engage with one setoof internal projections, suchas 18,at the same time. I

I j Theother projections, such as 12 or 13, are

so spaced with respect to the internal .pro-

jections, suoh as 19 or 20, that when the projections l1 engagetheinternal projections 18, the projections I mesh withthe internalprojections l9and 2O respectively. The spacing isfurther so se-12or13awill be out of lected, as is illustratedin Fig. lathatthe sleeve8 may be brought into its neutral position as shown, when none oftheprojections will interengage.

In additionto the hollow gears 15, 16 and 17, I, also provide a hollowgear'2l having straightteeth adapted to inter-mesh with a gear 22mounted on one end of a shaft 23 carrying at itsother .end a gear24,-meshing with a gear 25, rigid as at 26 with a'short shaft-27mounted'inthe frameworkli, and which'shaft27 has secured thereto, as at28, a bevel gear 29 .meshinglwith the bevel -gear ion the wheel 3, asshown. l So arias has now been disclosed, it is evident that {wheneverthe sleeve 8 is forced from itsneutral position illustrated in Figs. I

1 and 2 toward the right, as seen in said figures, the projections 11will first int-ermesh with the internal projections 18, and thereforepower will be transmitted from the driving shaft 7 to the sleeve 8,projections 11, internal projections 18, hollow bevel gear 15, bevelgear 4, disk 3, spline 2, and driven shaft 1. Further, the bevel gear 4having a greater radius gears 5 and 6, this power will be transmitted ata lower speed than would be the case if the sleeve 8 should be pushedsufliciently far toward the right as to cause the projections 12 toengage with the internal projections 19. In the same way, the powerwhich would be transmitted from the shaft 7 to the shaft 1 when theprojections 12 and 19 are in engagement, will be at a lower speed thanwill be the power which is transmitted when the sleeve 8 is stillfurther moved toward the right to cause engagement of the projections 13and 20. On the other hand, when the sleeve 8 is moved from the posi tionshown in Figs. 1 and 2 toward the left, as shown in said figures, theprojections 11 will engage the internal gear 30 rigid with the saidhollow projections 21, and power will be transmitted from the drivingshaft 7 to the sleeve 8, projections 11 and 30, straight gear 21, gear22, shaft 23, gear 24, gear 25, spline 26, short shaft 27, spline 28,gear 29, bevel gear 4, disk 3, and driven shaft 1; but in this case, itis evident the rotation of the shaft 1 will be reversed.

I preferably provide each of the hollow gears 21, 15, 16 and 17 withsuitable bearings in the casing 14, as illustrated, and I alsopreferably provide the right hand end of the shaft 7 with a bearing insaid casing or frame 14, as shown at 35. Any suitable stuffing box 36may be provided to keep dust from the parts, as well as to prevent oilfrom escaping.

Fig. 2 illustrates a modification, in which the shaft, or rear axle, 1is driven by a gear 40 secured thereto, or to the usual differential fordriving said axle; said gear 40 intermeshing with a gear 41 on the shortshaft 42 to which is rigidly attached as at 43 the bevel gear 3. Theshaft 42 may be conveniently mounted in a bearing 47 suitably connectedwith the framework 14. Further, instead of the hollow straight gear 21,shown in Fig. 1, I have provided the hollow bevel gear 44 located nearthe axle l which in turn carries the internal projections 45 adapted toengage the rojections 46 carried by the inner end of tie sleeve 8, aswill be clear from the drawings. The gear 44 intermeshes with the bevelgear 4 as illustrated, and it will be clear that when the sleeve 8 ismoved to the left as shown in Fig. 2, so as to cause engagement of theprojections 46 and 45, power will be transmitted from the shaft 7,sleeve 8, projections 46 and 45,bevel than the bevel,

gear 44, disk 3, shaft 41, gear 40 and driven shaft 1; but it willconstitute the reverse movement for this modification. Of course theshaft 1 may be driven in its forward direction by throwing the sleeve 8to the right as seen in Fig. 2, and causing the projections 11, 12 or 13to engage with the cooperating internal projections 18, 19 or 20, as hasbeen disclosed above in connection with Fig. 1.

An important feature of my invention consists in the construction abovedisclosed by which the movement of the operating lever 10 in a singledirection enables one to change the speed of the machine at will, or tostop the same as will now be disclosed. That is to say, referring toFig. 6, it is well known that in a large number of automobiles now inuse, the operating lever 50 has to be moved from whatever position itmay be in, to the position 51 in order to throw in the lowest speed, andit then has to be moved from the position 51 to the position 52 in orderto attain the next highest speed, passing through the neutral point 54in the meantime. The said lever 50, in order to attain its highestspeed, must next be thrown to the position 53, and in order to reversethe machine, the lever being in the position 53, it is necessary to movethe same from said position 53 back through the neutral point to theposition 55. In other words, it will be clear that in order to go fromthe lowest to the next highest speed, and also to go from the highestspeed to the reverse position, or from the reverse position to thehighest speed, it is always essential in such arrangements to passthrough the neutral point 54. As will be seen from Fig. 6, thesecomplicated movements constitute the letter H and are very confusing tothe operator, especially in times of panic, when great danger isimpending. On the other hand, by referring to Fig. 5, my lever 10 may bethrown from the reverse position 57 to the neutral position 58 and thenby a continuous movement in the same direction, I may throw in thesuccessive speeds, thereby avoiding all confusion at any time. In theform of are shown in Fig. 5, I have indicated a plurality of notches,which may be utilized for addi tional speeds, or if desired I mayprovide a neutral position between each successive speed. In thepreferred form of are, however, illustrated in Fig. 3, I haveillustrated the reverse position at 57, and the neutral position I haveindicated at 60, which may be conveniently provided by a notch on thelower side of the rack 61, controlled by a push pin, such as 62, or byany other suit able means, as is best illustrated in Fig. 4. As shown inFig. 3, the notch 63 corresponds to the lower speed, the notch 64 to thenext highest, and the notch 65 to the highest speed.

cessively lower is reached.

7 wheels In all cases it will be observed that a con -tinuous counterclockwise movement of the operating lever, as shown. in thedrawmgs,

will produce successively higher speeds, and a clockwise movement willproceed at sucspeeds'until the neutral point A further clockwisemovement produces a reversal of the machine, and

therefore no confusion can arise in times of ciently large to transmitall of the power transmitted through only one tooth I I a that I provideadirect drive through not more than two teeth, and further, owing to theloose engagement of these said teeth, this power is really generally oneach intermeshing gear, and consequently the parts must be madereallyqsufiiciently large and strong to drive the vehicle through only asingle pair of intermeshing teeth.

In my improved construction, all of the projections 11, 12 and 18 engagethe cooperating sets of internal projections 18, 19 and 20, whereby thepower is transmitted through a very largenumber of projections or teeth,which enables-the parts to be made very much smallerand lighter thanwould be the case if external engaging gears were employed. This featurebecomes of especial importance when'it is rememberedthat sud den andpowerful changes of power are often had, and there is always a greateror less danger of stripping the teeth. unless an ample margin of safetyin the strengthof the parts is provided. It will be further observed forand therefore I save the inevitable frictional losses incident toindirect drives andperipheralengagements, besides producing a gear ingfree from the noise that is always attendant upon externally engaginggears. Further, since the gears 4, 5 and-6 are alwaysin mesh with thegears 15, 16 and 17, these said gearsmay be equipped with theoreticallyerfect teeth and thereby avoid well known objections to the old style ofgears now. in use on automobiles.

' Of course, in practice, the whole change gearing and its coactingparts will be inclosed in a suitablecasing not shown.

It is obvious that those skilled in theart,

may vary the details of construction as well as the arrangement of partswithout departing from the spirit of myinvention, and therefore I do notwish to be limited to the above disclosure except as may be required bythe claims. t

- What Iclaim is l 1. In a variable speed gearing the com- I at varyingdistances;

every speed,

bination of a driving shaft; a sliding sleeve secured to said 'shaftprovided with a plurality of driving projections spaced apart. atvarying distances; pendent hollow external gears and carrying aplurality of indemesh; and a shaft adapted to be driven by said wheel,substantially as described.

2. In a variable speed gearing the combination of a driving shaft; asliding sleeve secured to said shaft provided with a plurality ofdriving projections spaced apart a pluralityofindependent hollowexternal gears and carrying internal projections also variably spacedapart each adapted to inter-mesh at different tunes with certain of saiddriving projections; a framework adapted to receive said gears andpinions; a multlple gear wheel supported on said framework with whichsaid external gears are adapted to intermesh; and a shaft adapted to bedriven by i said wheel, substantially as described. I

3. In a variable speed gearing the combination of a driving shaft; asleeve thereon provided wit-h external projections; a series ofindependent gears provided with internal projections for engagement bysaid external projections; a plurality of rigidlyconnected gears meshingwith said series of independent gears; a shaft adapted to be driven bysaid plurality of gears; adapted to intermeshfwith certain of saidexternal projections; and connections be tween said reversing gear anddriven shaft,

substantially as described,

4. In a variable speed gearing, bination of a driving shaft; a drivenshaft; and connections between said driving and driven shafts comprisinga plurality ably spaced movable sets of projections, a plurality ofvariably spaced driving gears with which said. sets of projections areadapted to engage one at a time; anda reversing gear with which oneof'said sets of projections is also adaptedto' engage; and

an operating lever adapted to move 1n one I I order to cause successiveen direction in the comgagements between said movable sets ofprojections and said driving gears, substantially v j as described; I i5,111 a variable speed gearing, the combination of a driving shaft; adriven shaft; i

and connections between said ably spaced movable sets of pro ections, a

sliding sleeve carrying said sets of projec-y tions, a plurality Idriving and driven shafts comprising a plurality of vari- 100 I areversing gear I projections is also adapted to engage; a hollowframework adapted to receive said sets of projections and driving gears;and an operating lever adapted to move in one direction in order tocause a disengagement between one said sets of projections and saidreversing gear and successive engagements between said sets ofprojections and said driving gears, substantially as described. v

6. In a variable speed gearing for automobiles the combination of adriving shaft; a driven shaft; connections between said shaftscomprising slidingly movable variably spaced sets of cooperatingprojections, revolubly mounted direct driving gears, a revolubly mountedreversing gear andamultiple gear; and a controlling means for saidconnections adapted to move from its reversing position in one directionin order to attain its neutral and its various change speed positions,substantially described.

In testimony whereof, I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

GREED H. BGUCHER. lVitnesses T. A. lVITHERsPOON, GEO. B. Pirrs.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. G.

